Why establish an International Memorandum of Understanding?

The purpose of an International MOU is to indicate the university’s intent to collaborate with an institution abroad, and to provide a framework for a range of academic activities, often under further specific agreements.  These might include:

  • Facilitate faculty, staff and student exchanges and visits
  • Provide access to facilities and/or resources not available in the US
  • Provide access to faculty and students from partner institution to UF facilities
  • Organization and participation in seminars, symposia, short-term academic programs, and academic meetings

Please note that any MOU that includes research related activities should be submitted to the Office of Research, Sponsored Programs (DSP).  Please contact Elizabeth Keeter – Associate Director, UF Sponsored Programs – with any questions you might have regarding this process.

How to establish an International Memorandum of Understanding

Please note that UF has implemented a new online submission and approval process for all international agreements, which will streamline and facilitate the various approval and compliance requirements. The new process will allow for College Deans, Department Chairs, the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Research Integrity, Security and Compliance, and the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs to approve the proposed agreement online before it is routed to the International Center for final signature.

The list below outlines the forms and steps necessary to establish an International MOU

  1. If you are interested in signing an MOU with an international partner, please contact Sharon Brown, who will be happy to prepare a draft agreement for you to share with your partner institution.
  2. At the same time, you may want to begin working on the Activities Report (AR) , which is an internal form that describes proposed activities (for new agreements) or past /new activities (for renewals).
  3. The Letter of Approval (LOA) is also an internal form that indicates the approval of your chair and your dean or associate dean. Once the MOU draft is approved and the Activities Report is complete, you may collect the signatures on the LOA.
  4. When all three documents are in place, please submit them to Sharon Brown. Our office will review them and upon approval we will submit the documents to an online portal, where it will be approved by the Department, the College, RISC, General Counsel, the UFIC and finally the Provost’s Office.

We will be happy to assist and to answer any questions you might have.  Please contact Sharon Brown at: sbrown@ufic.ufl.edu

STEPS

DOCUMENTS

DETAILS

NEGOTIATE AGREEMENT

International Memorandum of Understanding

SPA | POR

The templates may be modified with the guidance of Dr. Susanne Hill. Please use Track Changes in Word for any revisions.

Proposed Activities (for new agreements)

Activities Reports (for renewals)

Please complete this form and submit along with the completed template. 

SUPERVISORY APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT

Letter of Approval

With this letter, the College and Department (or similar unit as appropriate) confirm their approval for the faculty member to serve as the Academic Manager (AM) of the proposed agreement and the proposed activities. The letter also requires the AM’s signature. 

SUBMISSION OF AGREEMENT and SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Complete International Memorandum of Understanding See link above

Proposed Activities See link above

Letter of Approval See link above

Certificate of Translation or CoT

Please send all documents to Sharon Brown (sbrown@ufic.ufl.edu) with a copy to: agreements@ufic.ufl.edu

CoT: Only required for translations of documents and languages that are not pre-approved.

REVIEW and ADMINISTRATIVE APPROVAL

 

Once all documents have been submitted, they will be reviewed by UFIC Executive Director and Dean as well as the UF Office of Research. Upon approval they will be prepared for signature.
SIGNATURE OF AGREEMENT   Two copies of the original agreement are signed by the Dean of the UF International Center and then sent to the partner institution for counter-signature. 

AGREEMENT ACTIVATION

 

Upon receipt of the fully executed agreement from the partner institution, the agreement is activated and an electronic copy is forwarded to the academic manager.
The agreement will be listed on the UFIC website. 
RENEWALS  

UFIC will contact the Academic Manager approximately  120 days prior to the agreement expiration date to determine whether a renewal is desired.
In that case, the  AM manager should initiate the same process as above, using the renewals Activities Report form.
If a renewal is not desired, UFIC will send a notice of expiration to the partner institution and retire the agreement accordingly